Much of the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence’s (CCEE) board meeting on March 13 focused on discussions around direct technical assistance (DTA) as the state has seen an increase in eligible districts.
In 2021, there were seven local educational agencies across 25 county offices of education receiving DTA from CCEE, compared to 54 in 2024, which requires support from the entire organization to manage cases as well as contractors. according to Executive Director Matt Navo.
DTA is defined by CCEE as a level-three intensive support for LEAs “that meet the criteria of three or more student groups not meeting two or more Local Control Funding Formula Priorities for three of four consecutive years.” It focuses on growing a district’s capacity to implement actions and services to meet local needs.
Navo explained that at any given time on any given initiative, about 60 percent of LEAs that are DTA-eligible are willing and either able or unable to engage in work to improve specified outcomes. For those willing and able, the turnaround time is estimated at three to five years, and for the willing and unable, it’s five to seven years. The remaining 40 percent are typically unwilling but able or unwilling and unable to participate, with a turnaround time of six to eight and eight to 10 years, respectively.
Financial and governance challenges, leadership and personnel changes and community issues are some factors that can contribute to a district’s turmoil.
“We’re making progress. I couldn’t be more happy with the way the team has oriented around doing this work in the right way, developing the right relationships with our partners, particularly the county office partners who are absolutely essential to the conversation. We cannot do it without them, we cannot do it without the system of support,” Navo said. “But we do have to recognize that the appetite people have for change around schools does not match what the theory and research says around how long some of this actually takes.”
Updates to Education Code reflect the joint effort that goes into the process by CCEE, COEs, which act as the technical assistance provider, and districts.
According to a staff presentation, CCEE utilizes the “3 C’s” approach to DTA: collaboration to accomplish goals, clarity on responsibilities and timelines and in communications, and courage to give feedback even if it’s hard.
The spectrum of support provided ranges from collaborative planning (44 districts are currently in this stage) to collaborative facilitation (six districts) and ultimately, embedded partnership (four districts). Priority areas include student achievement, student engagement, school climate and outcomes in a broad course of study.
Recent successes include 15 districts no longer being DTA-eligible coming into 2024, benefits related to the intensive assistance model, and a valuable consultation process among others. Challenges, as stated, include varied participation in differentiated assistance (DA), leadership turnover in LEAs, the need to align DTA and DA and better use of data for improvement at the district level.
DA is “is assistance provided under the public school accountability system,” and provided by the COE or regional Geographic Lead while DTA is a level three intensive support provided in partnership with CCEE, according to CCEE.
Board members talked about various strategies to assist with DTA, including the possibility of establishing best practices of where DA and DTA intersect.
Learn more about DTA here.
In other developments:
- Chief Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction Ingrid Roberson was sworn-in as the board’s designee for State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond.
- Meeting dates for the coming fiscal year were decided and will be Aug. 28 and Dec. 18, 2025, and Feb. 19 and June 4, 2026.
The board is scheduled to convene next June 12, at which point elections for board chair and vice chair will take place (this activity was rescheduled from the March agenda).
A recording of the March 13 meeting will be available on CCEE’s website.